Life (TV Series)

Pilot: Merit Badge (2007)

Damian Lewis: Charlie Crews

Quotes 

• Dani Reese : Why exactly would the universe make fun of us all?

  Charlie Crews : Maybe it's insecure.

• Alice Gibney : My husband told me about you. A cop, in jail, all those years. How did you go on living? How did you get past it?

  Charlie Crews : Well, I could tell you you're already past it, tell you this moment is your life. I could tell you you have a husband and child who need you. But none of that means anything, does it?

  Alice Gibney : So tell me something that means something. Tell me anything that means something.

  Charlie Crews : The man who killed your son is out there, right now, inside this same moment we are in. As we sit here, as I look at you, the man who killed John is free. Now that means something, doesn't it?

• Charlie Crews : [to Reese]  The dog must have took a bullet for the kid. Then took the shooter's finger off. Anyone ever love you that much?

• [driving his Bentley, spots a silver Mercedes, puts the cherry/light on his roof, pulls the car over, and approaches the driver] 

  Man : So what is it this time?

  Charlie Crews : License and registration.

  Man : You know damn well who I am.

  Charlie Crews : License and registration please.

  Man : Look, I married your ex-wife, that is not a crime.

  [Hands Charlie his license and registration] 

  Charlie Crews : Are you aware that you changed lanes back there without signaling?

  [takes out book, begins writing a ticket] 

  Man : You have nothing better to do?

  Charlie Crews : No sir. Not at this moment.

• [Reese is questioning a child-victim's friend, Tyler] 

  Charlie Crews : Reese, I guess what I wanna say is, you've probably had to fight, being a woman in this department, right?

  [stands up] 

  Charlie Crews : Fight for everything you ever got?

  [Tyler is observing them] 

  Dani Reese : Detective Crews, this is not the place for that discussion. Detective Crews.

  [Stands up] 

  Charlie Crews : I just wanted to say...

  Dani Reese : Crews. Step...

  Charlie Crews : I wanted to let you know...

  Dani Reese : Step back.

  Charlie Crews : You don't have to fight with me.

  Dani Reese : Step back.

  Charlie Crews : [to Tyler]  She thinks I'm gonna hug. You think I'm gonna hug you.

  [Hugs Reese, looking at Tyler, who laughs] 

  Charlie Crews : As I hug my partner, I know she is real, and mindfully meet this person with open arms and an open heart.

  [Reese pushes him off of her] 

  Charlie Crews : I'm not gonna fight with you.

• Robert Stark : Hey, can I get a picture, you know, on account of you being a celebrity detective and all.

  [takes his cell phone out, hands it to his partner, Juarez] 

  Charlie Crews : That's a phone Bobby.

  Tito Juarez : It's got a camera in it, where you been?

  Charlie Crews : Me? I've been in federal maximum security prison.

  [smiles] 

• Charlie Crews : Hey, Ted, the orange grove deal includes the tractor, right? The big red one?

  Ted Early : Yeah Charlie, it includes the big red tractor.

• Charlie Crews : [reading book titled "Internet for Idiots"]  IM stands for "instant-message".

  Dani Reese : I know that.

  Charlie Crews : You can't trace an IM.

  Dani Reese : Detective, I know that too.

• Dani Reese : [answers her phone]  Yeah? Uh, it's for you.

  [hands Charlie the phone] 

  Charlie Crews : Hello?

  Constance Griffiths : Charlie.

  Charlie Crews : You're aware this isn't my phone?

  Constance Griffiths : When you answer your phone, I'll call you on your phone. I need to see you.

  Charlie Crews : I'm fightin' crime.

  [Reese looks at him] 

  Constance Griffiths : Come over tonight. I'll buy fruit.

  [hangs up] 

  Dani Reese : I don't exactly understand you.

  Charlie Crews : You don't have to understand here to be here.

  Dani Reese : That's what I don't understand.

• [at Constance's house, eating pieces of cantaloupe off a knife] 

  Constance Griffiths : Your father's been calling me. Twice today. Three times yesterday.

  Charlie Crews : You want some melon? It's very fresh and juicy.

  Constance Griffiths : Are you not talking about this?

  Charlie Crews : I'd ask you to address all your questions to my lawyer.

  Constance Griffiths : I am your lawyer. Your father is getting married.

  Charlie Crews : No, he's getting RE-married.

  Constance Griffiths : He wants you to come.

  Charlie Crews : His bride-to-be is 8 years old. Anyway, I don't have a date.

  Constance Griffiths : From what I hear, you have plenty of dates. Charlie, please call your father. If only so he will stop calling me.

  Charlie Crews : My father is getting remarried to an 8 year old. Because my mother is dead. My mother is dead because he killed her. He killed her when he wouldn't let her come see me.

  Constance Griffiths : No Zen for Daddy?

  Charlie Crews : No Zen for Daddy.

• [Charlie driving his Bentley. Car Automated Voice: Call from Dani Reese. beep-sound] 

  Charlie Crews : Hello?

  Dani Reese : Hello. Crews you there?

  Charlie Crews : Reese? Am I talking to you?

  Dani Reese : What do you mean are you talking to me, you're talking to me.

  Charlie Crews : [looking around his car]  But how am I talking to you?

  Dani Reese : Crews, we got a hit off that finger you dug up. A junkie named Lonny Garth. He's got no known address, but he hangs out at those crack houses downtown. I'm sending you his mugshot right now.

  [sends it over her computer] 

  Charlie Crews : To my house?

  Dani Reese : To your phone.

  Charlie Crews : [his phone beeps, he opens it, screen displays the mugshot] 

  [shocked] 

  Charlie Crews : That's like...

  Dani Reese : Living in the future?

  Charlie Crews : Actually, I thought about that, and it turns out there really is no future, or past either, just now. And now.

  [she hangs up] 

  Charlie Crews : And now, now, Reese?

• Dani Reese : Why'd you become a cop again?

  Charlie Crews : When I was doing all that time, I always thought inside me, I'm still a cop, it's what I held onto.

  Dani Reese : Wow, that sounds like a lot of crap.

  Charlie Crews : A lot of life is a lot of crap.

• Dani Reese : No threats against his family?

  Correctional officer #2 : Not that we know, but we just work here. We go home after our shifts. It's the convicts who are here 24/7, they know what really goes on.

  Charlie Crews : He means inmates.

  Corrections Officer #1 : He means convicts.

  Correctional officer #2 : What, you don't like that word? What do you care?

  [Charlie turns to face the guard] 

  Dani Reese : Come on Crews, let's go.

  Correctional officer #2 : Yeah, we know who you are. Know you did your 12 years. Maybe you were innocent. Maybe not. It don't make no difference to us, because we know what you did to that correction officer in Pelican Bay. That makes you a con. Don't it?

  Dani Reese : You two need to escort us out know.

  Corrections Officer #1 : You gettin' angry, convict?

  Charlie Crews : [calmly]  Anger ruins joy. Steals the goodness of my mind. Forces my mouth to say terrible things. Overcoming anger brings peace of mind. Leads to a mind without regrets. If I overcome anger, I will be delightful and loved by everyone.

  Correctional officer #2 : Are you making fun of us?

  Charlie Crews : It is the universe that makes fun of us all.

  [turns and faces other guard, walks away. Reese gives them both a look] 

• Charlie Crews : Oh, okay, okay you're mad at me.

  Dani Reese : Mad, no I'm not mad. I mean I don't even think there is a word for what I am. I mean what you did to that husband, I kinda get, okay. I mean I guess I kinda get, but what you said to that wife...

  Charlie Crews : I know. That one was me. It was my fault, I take responsibility. I wasn't in the moment. If I'd stayed in the moment, if I'd stayed present, I would of been okay, but I didn't. I was thinking about where we're going next. So I left the moment just when I should have been completely in the moment, which is when people usually leave the moment, but the moment is just too much for, which is pretty much always too much. I was thinking about where we're gonna go next.

• Tyler Hawley : He sent John an IM. I don't know who he really is.

  Charlie Crews : An IM? He sent John an IM.

  [to Reese] 

  Charlie Crews : He sent John an IM.

  [after questioning Tyler] 

  Charlie Crews : Reese, what exactly is an IM?

  [she give him a look, gets up and leaves] 

  Charlie Crews : [later] 

  Charlie Crews : What is it, an email?

• Charlie Crews : Dani Reese, Bobby Stark.

  Robert Stark : No, you're Charlie's new partner?

  [looks her up and down] 

  Robert Stark : We got something in common.

  Dani Reese : Oh yeah, what would that be?

• Dani Reese : I need a drink.

  Charlie Crews : I know somethin' better.

  [on the street, Charlie is eating a cup of fruit] 

  Charlie Crews : Mango?

  Dani Reese : [shakes her head]  It's okay.

  Charlie Crews : This came all the way from Guatemala. And now it's right here in this cup. It's all connected Reese.

  Dani Reese : What is?

  Charlie Crews : It is.

  Dani Reese : Mmm, that's Zen.

  Charlie Crews : Is it?

  Dani Reese : That's Zen too, isn't it?

  Charlie Crews : Is it?

  Dani Reese : Say "is it?" one more time and I'll shoot you.

• [last lines] 

  Ted Early : [first time driving tractor]  Whoa! Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa! No! This is not forward! That's not forward, this is not forward!

  [rolls up onto Charlie's car] 

  Ted Early : Oh boy, that's bad. Oh God, I'm very sorry, Charlie. I'm so sorry.

  Charlie Crews : [smiling, unperturbed, bites in to an apple]